Conference Proceedings 2010 [pdf] - Art & Design Symposium ...

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No doubt, it was not a miracle that made us finish the huge painting in three days, but it was our hope, our passion, and our wound that came from the war in which we lived that led us to put all our aptitude into the painting and work with great effort to express our feelings and our high denial of the war. All children, youth, and elderly people lived the Lebanese war of 2006; however, those living in the south suffered the most. Some of the inhabitants were locked in their houses, while others were living under the echo of bombs; some lost their houses, and some died. Soon after that, people in Tripoli opened their houses for the refugees who came from the south to the north; schools were also opened for these refugees to live in. I myself worked in these schools with other volunteers; we offered refugees food, clothes, medical treatments, and other needs for housing, all of which were provided by large organizations. In fact, this experience of cooperation and unity between the Lebanese left a huge impact in every person’s life and had its own influence in the painting, where children expressed not just what they felt about war but also what they lived and saw. Following this further, ending the painting in three days was a challenge but not something impossible, especially for us who lived through the war; it was very easy to express our feeling on a canvas, for we already had the image engraved in our hearts. We all—coordinator, art teachers, art assistants, and kids—composed a great team, and our teamwork made me learn a great deal. It was a milestone in my life; it strengthened my self-confidence and showed me the love of sharing and the love of giving. For this, I had the bravery to participate in the peace painting for 2009, which was included in the last days of a summer camp prepared for visually impaired children and their sighted friends. Two friends initiated the summer camp project: Maysa Murad, the daughter of Iman Murad, and Sara Minkara, who was visually impaired. Their aim was to intermingle kids in a camp where they could learn, play, and have fun together. This particular peace-painting project was quite challenging. First, we volunteers had to introduce the project to the kids and work with them to develop their ideas on a piece of paper. Then, we had to introduce them to the great canvas; it was the idea of Mrs. Iman to let the kids sense the dimensions of the canvas, especially the visually impaired kids. So what we came up with was to set a rope in a rectangular shape equal to the dimensions of the canvas and to let children sit around that rope. We sang the songs we taught them. Then some volunteers lay on the floor inside the rope, and the children drew the outline of their bodies. The last three days of the camp began, so we had to start our mission. We were a little bit worried because we had to teach the visually impaired children how to draw and paint. But we were all surprised; some of the children were able to paint as if they can totally see. They astonished us. These kids were blessed by a huge gift that they could see with their hearts, not with their eyes; they could sense everything they wanted to see and transform it to a real vision. They were helping other kids with painting as other kids were helping them. We finally finished the painting successfully, and we accomplished the mission of conveying the idea of peace and collaboration to the kids. The painting contains more than fifteen stories; each holds a meaning inside of it and conveys a specific idea. One of the stories depicts a blind girl and a sighted boy on a seesaw; another one shows a boat transporting passengers to the shore of peace. A third tale illustrates two opened doors sending out beams of hope; a forth one shows the word peace written in many languages on letters. We joined these and other narratives into one beautiful piece of painting to express the multiplicity of ways to achieve peace in the world. To be true, the two peace-painting projects that we did in Tripoli, Lebanon, improved my knowledge about cooperating, sharing, giving, and receiving. I worked in partnership with volunteers who were younger and older than I; I shared my thoughts and my knowledge with them and received theirs with high respect; I gave my time, my effort, and especially my commitment to the project. All of that matters, but what I received is what matters the most: I received respect and appreciation from everyone including kids; I received knowledge from the volunteers; I received hope from the visually impaired children. Their hope came from their belief that they are as normal as any sighted kids. Indeed, they are normal and even more than normal; they are gifted, talented, and very optimistic; they believe that they can make a change. Their belief gives us hope, and this hope paves our way for peace. 58
Having the opportunity to remind you of our peace painting for 2007 and to tell you about the recent one for 2009 is a great honor. This allows me to refresh your memory and mine too with the significant meaning and value of peace. Well, I can speak about our painting without stopping because it was a fascinating experience not just to me, but to all those who participated in it. I have the chance now to speak with their voices and express their feelings, their thoughts, and their gratitude for participating in the Kids’ Guernica peace mural project. Meanwhile, I would like to thank Mr. Iman, in particular, and Kids’ Guernica, in general, for allowing me to be part of their projects. Indeed, I gave time, and I gave effort, but what I learnt from this experience was much more important than what I gave. Our experience with the two peace-painting projects was a great opportunity to all Lebanese; they had the opportunity to show people how they are living; they were able to transmit their voices when no one was hearing them and to transmit their emotions when no one was feeling their pain. This experience traveled with me from Lebanon, my country, to Michigan, the state that I am living and studying in at the present time. This experience has never ended; instead, it has opened the door for me to a bunch of other experiences: I am now searching in my university for projects that addresses peace and justice to participate in them and help those who want to make a difference in the world. I wish, and I love to give more and more for peace. I will dedicate my time for any peace project, especially a Kids’ Guernica peace project. I will be here to help and make a difference. I will be ready like the soldier who is waiting for the signal to start his duty, like the soldier who is ready and waiting to fight for war, but I will be ready to fight for peace. I would like to end with few words I deeply believe in: I believe that you can learn about people by looking them in the eye, but you can definitely learn more if you look at them through their eyes. Through our eyes, you see our paintings, which represent our moments of war and peace, our feelings, and our hopes. Figure 1. First Kids’ Guernica peace painting, “Enough. We Want To Live.” 2007, Tripoli, Lebanon 59
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2010 ART&DESIGN for Social Justice
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5:30-6:00 Buffet Dinner 6:00-6:45 O
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Symposium Activities, January 18 Su
Page 8 and 9: (2 sessions combined- 1 hour 10 min
Page 10 and 11: Art, Education and the Internet: A
Page 12 and 13: There are basically four steps to j
Page 14 and 15: noisy doors, and dark classroom env
Page 16 and 17: highlighting slavery’s historic r
Page 18 and 19: Identity and Voice: Constructivist
Page 20 and 21: esources and venues we hope to secu
Page 22 and 23: Keller, G. D., Erickson, M., & Vill
Page 24 and 25: Our class partnered with a high sch
Page 26 and 27: Background: Eastern Woodland Indian
Page 28 and 29: design very much throughout the pro
Page 30 and 31: Work in Progress- Kids’ Guernica
Page 32 and 33: Examples of the Gap Between Art and
Page 34 and 35: Varbanova, L. (2009). Social entrep
Page 36 and 37: field for community building. This
Page 38 and 39: Gurin, Dey, Hurtado, and Gurin (200
Page 40 and 41: times from presenters that discrimi
Page 42 and 43: Levin, S., Van Laar, C., and Sidani
Page 44 and 45: of building and sustaining peace. L
Page 46 and 47: There is therefore clearly an inter
Page 48 and 49: Service Learning as a Strategy in t
Page 50 and 51: Enos, S.L., & Troppe, M. L. (1996).
Page 52 and 53: the artist was brought for a week o
Page 54 and 55: Fazey, I., Fazey, J. A., & Fazey, D
Page 56 and 57: The Affordable House: Making Design
Page 60 and 61: Figure 2. Second Kids’ Guernica p
Page 62 and 63: Figure 6. Hamza, a visually impair
Page 64 and 65: health and safety issues for occupa
Page 66 and 67: Exemplary Teaching in Urban Schools
Page 68 and 69: Anderson, R. (1990). Calliope’s s
Page 70 and 71: initiatives are not specific to ado
Page 72 and 73: Growing Home: Creating Living, Sust
Page 74 and 75: housing method for refugees. The pr
Page 76 and 77: Filtering Access through Social Eng
Page 78 and 79: artists, engineers, community worke
Page 80 and 81: References Art 21 (2007a). Mel Chin
Page 82 and 83: and possibilities of job. Therefore
Page 84 and 85: Poster Images Poster Image # 1 84
Page 86 and 87: Artmaking as a Process for Explorin
Page 88 and 89: disposition is nurtured not only by
Page 90 and 91: constructs. Just as written respons
Page 92 and 93: Art and Life With Children Boris Ti
Page 94 and 95: Children with Guernica, Children wi
Page 96 and 97: lacked anywhere else to put these i
Page 98 and 99: References Baldassare, M. (1979). R
Page 100 and 101: Table 1. Environmental features add
Page 102 and 103: Figure 7. A view of the room’s en
Page 104 and 105: Radstone, S. (Ed.), (2000). Memory
Page 106 and 107: For centuries we have drawn on the
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Figure 2. Spiral Shell with Transpa
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Photographs Ansley Simmons Allys Pa
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